Silence
by Aussielover
Summary: Someone can't hear a thing. What happened? Who is affected?


Silence. Complete silence.

Then, a ringing starts. A high-pitch ringing begins in both ears. The ringing is so intense; it sends a painful shock reverberating down from the top of his head to his toes. His eyes are shut. Some dark liquid is dripping from his ears down his neck and then onto his uniform.

His whole body shudders. Sharp pain starts to pepper his entire body. Any movement at all just arouses new aches.

Someone's hands squeeze his shoulders. He cracks open his eyes and the bright light launches a new wave of pain. He quickly closes them.

After hesitating for a moment, he tries to open his eyes again. This time he holds them open thru the throbbing pain. His vision is blurry and unfocused. Everything seems gray. His sense of smell tells him the room is filled with smoke and it begins to sting his eyes. A dark outline of a person appears before him. At first it looks like two then they blend into one. He still hears only the ringing and nothing else.

It's a face. The person feels familiar to him, but his brain is struggling to work. After a couple long moments, those memorable worrisome blues eyes communicate to him. It's Jim, his partner. His lips are moving, but he still can't hear a thing except the annoying ringing.

Pete tries to sit up from the precarious position he's in, half on the floor and half leaning against something. As soon as he moves the room begins to spin. A sudden wave of nausea hits him, and he slumps over with crushing abdominal cramps causing his last meal to come up. With the taste of bile lingering in his mouth, he tries to sit up. He pinches his eyes closed for another minute in hopes of reopening them to a stable unmoving room.

Jim reaches out and tries to hold Pete still to prevent any further injury to him. Pete looks across the smoke-filled room and sees broken glass lying all around and office furniture in pieces. He is leaning against a wall with shattered out windows just above him. Jim continues to talk to him even though Pete doesn't seem to understand him. Pete looks to be in shock and confused by where he is and what happened.

Pete reaches up to rub at his nose and finds fresh blood covering his hand when he pulls it away. He's breathing rapidly with almost panting type gasps. Pete reaches out to Jim and grabs a hold of his shirt with one hand and struggles to mouth out the words, "What happened?" But to no avail, Pete can't read Jim's lips and can't quite comprehend the situation. He looks at Jim with more confusion on his face.

Others are moving through the destroyed room. Gradually the ringing is lessening and distance sounds start to emerge in Pete's head. It's almost like being at the far end of a long tunnel. He can hear voices, but they seem so far away. He can't really make out what any of the words are. He tries to relax his breathing and see if he can understand anything. Then suddenly a man in another uniform is kneeling down next to him. He is talking to Jim and then waves to another nearby. A gurney is put beside Pete and the two men carefully lift Pete up and onto it. Pete's head feels like it's exploding with the movement and every inch of his body just hurts. Another wave of nausea hits from the new position he's in, but after swallowing hard he keeps from vomiting again. The stranger places an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and Pete takes in a good breath. The attendant takes a moment to pull large jagged shards of glass from Pete's chest, arms, and legs. The man puts a few bandages over the seeping wounds then places a blanket over him and straps him to the gurney. As they leave the room, Pete glances over to see a white sheet draped over a body.

A few hours later Pete wakes up in a hospital bed with Jim standing beside him. A light sheet covers him and a heart monitor's wires snaking up and out from below. He has fluids hanging just above him. On the other side of the bed stands a man in a long white lab coat. Pete's mind is a bit foggy, but not for long.

"Pete, can you hear me?" Both the doctor and Jim look on to see what answer Pete gives.

With a gravelly voice he says, "Yes." The expressions on both the doctor and Jim's face turns to a grin.

"Welcome back, friend."

The doctor then speaks up and informs Pete of his injuries. "You had your eardrums rupture from the blast and it caused severe ringing. Deafness is usually only temporary, but the ringing may bother you for a few days. You received a concussion and lots of minor lacerations from the projectiles. If all goes well, you could be going home in another day or two."

Pete tries to digest the information, but is still struggling to comprehend what all was just said. He continues to concentrate through the throbs of a horrendous headache. He looks to Jim and asks, "What happened?"

Jim pulls up a chair beside the bed. "Do you remember going to Mac's office today?"

"No."

"Pete, you went to see Mac while I finished booking the DUI suspect just after noon. Do you remember any of that?"

"No, not really." Pete says with a lost expression.

"From what we pieced together you got to Mac's office and knocked because there was someone in there meeting with him. You went in and shortly after you did, a loud explosion was heard throughout the station."

Pete rubs over his face signaling his frustration with not remembering.

Jim continues, "We learned there was a visitor at the station just a little earlier who stated he had a complaint to make. He asked to see the person in charge and was directed to see Mac. We also figured out that the man was extremely distraught. He was recently charged with embezzlement then lost his job. His wife and family left him as a result of the situation. It appears he was looking for someone else to blame. Upon entering Mac's office he revealed a bomb strapped to his chest."

Jim could see the fear grow in Pete's eyes as he heard the story playing out.

"Oh my God! Mac?!" The horror on Pete's face revealed his thoughts. _I saw Mac's dead body on the floor. _Pete tries to sit up as if he needs to go somewhere.

Jim reaches down and stops Pete's foolish move. "No, Pete. It wasn't Mac you saw. Mac's in surgery right now, but they think he's going to be fine. He has some internal injuries, but they felt going in that he would be ok."

"So the body…."

"Yes, it was the visitor. Pete, you need to rest and when you're feeling better, we can both go to see Mac. I'm sure he'll feel a whole lot better once he sees you awake, too."


End file.
